AI’s Transformative Role in Cybersecurity with Dennis Eliseev

Artificial Intelligence (aka AI) is not just a buzzword in the world of cybersecurity – it is a game-changer, promising a new era of defense mechanisms against sophisticated cyber threats.

We recently had the privilege of speaking with Dennis Eliseev, who brings to the table over 15 years of experience as a cybersecurity consultant/advisor. His expertise not only covers the technical aspects of security measures but also involves strategic decision-making to align cybersecurity initiatives with business objectives

Through this interview, we aim to shed light on AI’s impact, challenges, ethical considerations, and its future in cybersecurity, guided by Eliseev’s expert insights. Without further ado, here is how it went.

Q1: What made you choose a career in cybersecurity? Is it something you were always interested in?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: My first immersion in information security began when I worked for a large telecom operator. I could easily guide clients on communication issues, but issues related to secure VPN and personal data protection sometimes baffled me. I decided to look into these issues and started reading specialized publications and forums. A new unexplored world of cyber security has opened up for me. I quickly fell in love with this eternal confrontation between good and evil, watching engineers figure out how to protect themselves from new hacker attacks, and hackers figure out how to bypass new security solutions.

Q2: How do you see AI reshaping the landscape of cybersecurity in the next five years?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: The impact of AI/ML on our lives is already enormous. Over the past year, the news has been full of opinions about a variety of different professions that are either strongly transformed or will disappear, leaving many people out of work. No less changes are coming in our field. Moreover, it is important to understand that the very use of artificial intelligence technologies is twofold – it is not only a benefit that will simplify life when analyzing and responding to incidents and anomalies, it is also a very dangerous weapon in the hands of hackers. Many startups have already appeared that, using existing technologies, significantly simplify the lives of companies in terms of detecting, responding and investigating incidents. However, a huge number of tools for attacks have also appeared – starting with the simplest phishing services that generate very high-quality phishing emails and ending with malicious tools that use AI and make entry into hacker activities for a large circle of people who are not technically savvy. Our task is to be on the cutting edge of technology, actively study and use all available AI tools to be ready for new challenges.

Q3: Can you share an example of AI’s impact in detecting and mitigating a sophisticated cyber threat?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: Already, many vendors are actively integrating AI/ML tools into their solutions. At some point, this became not a competitive advantage or a marketing feature, but a necessity – any modern company uses a large number of information systems and information security tools, which means that every company already has a large amount of different data. For a while, SIEM solutions helped consolidate logs from various systems, use various rules that helped identify anomalies, thereby sifting out a large number of false events and finding real incidents. 

However, digitalization has led to the fact that there is so much data now that without AI tools, even SIEM solutions can’t help. Therefore, as soon as we realize that we need to process some kind of regular data set and find some patterns or anomalies, we are forced to turn to artificial intelligence. This helps to respond to incidents much faster.

Q4: In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced in integrating AI into existing cybersecurity infrastructures?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: The use of AI in existing cybersecurity infrastructures is fraught with a number of difficulties. One of the main tasks is to ensure the reliability and accuracy of AI algorithms, since even minor inaccuracies can lead to false positive or false negative results, jeopardizing security. This adds a limitation – in a real infrastructure, it is still difficult and even dangerous to use AI automation – in any case, all important decisions have to be applied by people. At the same time, cybersecurity specialists may lack the necessary knowledge to effectively implement, manage and interpret AI-based solutions, and there are currently too few ready-made specialists at the junction of these two areas. 

Q5: How does AI enhance the effectiveness of security awareness platforms like Security Champion?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: To answer this question, we need to outline our approach and our principles regarding security awareness. In order for employee training to be as effective as possible for our clients, one of our main tasks is to spend the most effective time on training – we should not waste time of those who do not fall for phishing, at the same time, we must reach out to those who, for some reason, regularly fall for phishing or ignore training altogether. This is exactly where AI is an excellent assistant – starting with the fact that we can adapt the training program and the materials themselves, making them as personalized as possible, we can quickly create simulated phishing emails based on the context and data from previous mailings, we can choose those training scenarios that are most effective in each case due to the collected and processed data on employee behavior and response.

Q6: What ethical considerations should businesses be aware of when deploying AI in cybersecurity measures?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: Privacy and ethical issues related to the use of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, such as data privacy and algorithmic transparency, must be taken into account. 

We must also remember that the one who does nothing is not mistaken. This means that even if experts, based on the conclusions of AI, made another decision that did not comply with the recommendations of artificial intelligence and as a result made a mistake, this is acceptable and should not have consequences for the specialist, but should only be an excuse to understand the situation and draw useful conclusions for the future. The problems do not end there, however, in my personal opinion, despite these challenges, we can use AI now – for example, in Co-pilot mode.

Q7: How can small to medium-sized businesses leverage AI to bolster their cybersecurity defenses without significant investment?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: It is really easy now – as I said, there are a lot of startups, a lot of vendors who already add AI/ML tools in their solutions. We don’t need to develop our own, but need to be ready to use such solutions. As I always say – when you decide to buy а new solution оr renew yours, look around, don’t forget to be open to new.

Q8: With the rise of AI in cybersecurity, how do you foresee the role of human cybersecurity professionals evolving?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: I know examples when large companies refused to hire new lawyers or financiers who did not have basic knowledge of working with big data. The same thing awaits us in the very near future – IT and information security specialists should be prepared for the fact that most employers will expect from them not only hard skills in the main area, but also a basic understanding of the principles of working with AI/ML.

Q9: Finally, what advice would you give to businesses looking to stay ahead of cyber threats with the help of AI?

Mr. Dennis Eliseev: Be open to new technologies and knowledge, make it one of the important KPIs for your departments to look for and apply new solutions. At the same time, remember that in order for technologies to become reliable and stable, it takes time and experience, so keep an eye on the innovations introduced, be ready in some cases to roll back time to draw conclusions, corrections and approach implementation more effectively with this experience.